Statements by Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) on the EU and Ukraine have caused a great response abroad. Yesterday, Schallenberg thought regarding “tailor-made offers for the closest possible connection between Ukraine” and the EU, which would not necessarily have to go through full membership.
The Russian and Ukrainian media interpreted this as Vienna’s categorical no to Ukraine joining the EU, and there was clear criticism from Kyiv.
Connection “not necessarily via full membership”
He understands the idea of Ukraine joining the EU in the emotionality of the moment, said Schallenberg, but there is also Bosnia-Herzegovina and countries like Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania that have been waiting for the opening of accession negotiations for years. At the 14th European Media Summit in Lech am Arlberg, he said that one shouldn’t make the mistake that with the right focus on Ukraine one would forget the Western Balkans, Moldova and the South Caucasus.
“A state like Ukraine does not necessarily have to be connected through full membership. We’re thinking in terms of ready-made templates,” said Schallenberg, pleading for the creation of “tailor-made offers for the closest possible connection” to the European Union for countries such as Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. For example, he might imagine a system in which these states would be fully involved in specific areas such as energy, transport and the internal market without being a formal member of the EU.
A stir in the Ukrainian and Russian media
Ukrainian online media, which initially referred to a brief summary of Schallenberg’s statements on the website of the free newspaper “Heute”, headlined today with “Austrian Foreign Ministry rejects Ukraine’s EU accession”.
“We consider these statements to be strategically short-sighted and they do not correspond to the interests of a united Europe,” said Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko in the state news agency Ukrinform. Schallenberg’s statement also ignores the fact that an “overwhelming majority” of the population in the EU’s founding states supports Ukraine’s membership.
However, Schallenberg’s appearance was also noticed in Russia: in the Russian news aggregate News.yandex.ru, which was brought into line with the Russian authorities, Schallenberg’s statements became one of the most important news items of the day with dozens of online reports throughout Russia.